


Your New Friend

by SkyTurtle



Series: Flowey and Papyrus [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, Houseplant Flowey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-25
Updated: 2016-07-25
Packaged: 2018-07-26 13:46:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7576237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkyTurtle/pseuds/SkyTurtle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Papyrus tries to find where his flowery friend has gone after the barrier is destroyed and succeeds! But why is he acting so differently now?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Your New Friend

When the barrier had been destroyed and all the Monsters slowly started moving to the surface Papyrus had assumed that his flower friend would as well. After all, almost everyone he knew had either already moved above or had plans to do so.

Alphys and Undyne already had plans to visit a place called “Japan” for what was surely diplomatic reasons. Toriel and Frisk were always having some sort of negotiation with the humans. Asgore was managing the Monster side of their peaceful relations, making sure that everyone understood that they were definitely not at war. Mettaton was planning a short tour on the surface as a way of showing humans just how fabulous Monsters could be. Even Muffet somehow bought herself and the spiders a bakery. Sans and himself managed to find a very practical lakeside house to settle in and Papyrus had taken to fishing. Although he hadn't actually caught anything yet.

But during all of this he had seen neither stalk nor petal of the flower. It wasn't uncommon for long periods of time to go by without seeing him but this was a momentous occasion! Even if it meant that Papyrus would never be a royal guard like he had wanted it was still very important and everyone should be celebrating! Besides, all the plants on the surface seemed to enjoy the bright sunlight. Surely his flower friend would enjoy it too if he just experienced it.

Papyrus mentioned his concern for the flower to Sans once, but he just shrugged and said “if you haven't seen him up here then he might like it better underground. plants like to stay close to their roots.” Ignoring the pun, Sans did have a point. Some Monsters were choosing to stay Underground so it wasn't unthinkable for the flower to be one of them. He might not even be able to leave depending on how mobile he was. Just how easily could he get around in that leafy body? And now that Papyrus thought about it, he might not even know that the barrier was gone! He couldn't just keep enjoying himself on the surface when there was a possibility that one of his friends was still trapped!

So his snap decision was made: he needed to go back to Mt. Ebott and find his friend. No one had moved far from the mountain yet so it was an easy trip to make, especially for someone as magnificent and fast as himself.

He had prepared himself for a long and thorough search of the Underground to find the flower, but Papyrus was pleasantly surprised to spot a yellow petaled stem right at the mountains opening. “AH, THERE YOU ARE!” The flower twitched at the sound of his voice but didn't turn to look at him. Pap couldn't blame him, the view of the surface from up here was fantastic. “I THOUGHT THAT MAYBE YOU WERE STILL STUCK UNDERGROUND OR MAYBE YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT THE BARRIER OR MAYBE YOU NEEDED SOME HELP PACKING.” Excited to see his friend again, Papyrus scampered closer and sat down next to him. “ARE YOU GOING TO MOVE TO THE SURFACE TOO?”

The flower finally looked at him, the cheerful smile Pap was so used to nowhere in sight. “What do you want?” He snapped.

“UH...” Hadn't he just explained why he was here? And why didn't he seem happy? “I WANTED TO BE A GOOD FRIEND! AND GOOD FRIENDS DON'T JUST-”

“Go away.”

Papyrus halted mid-speech. Something was very wrong here. The flower had always greeted him with a chipper “howdy” and was eager to talk about anything and everything. But now he seemed upset. So his talents were needed here after all. “WHAT'S TROUBLING YOU? SURELY THE GREAT PAPYRUS CAN HELP WITH ANY PROBLEM YOU MAY HAVE.”

“I said go away.”

“I'LL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT MY HEARING IS EXCELLENT! ALMOST AS EXCELLENT AS MY HELPING TECHNIQUES! COME NOW, IF THERE'S ANYTHING I CAN DO TO HELP MY FRIEND I WOU-WHOA!” Something strong and cold whipped around his upper arm and pulled him sideways, making him lose his balance.

“ **Shut up!** ” Chills ran down Papyrus' bones. That voice sounded like it belonged to a demon, not a flower. He pushed and shoved at whatever was on him. It looked like a thick vine, but it wouldn't budge. He was pinned in place. “ **Right now you're my problem. I'm not your friend. I could kill you in an instant without even feeling guilty, and if you keep bothering me...** ” The flower's face morphed into a hellish interpretation of a smile, the vine tightening enough to make Papyrus shout in pain. “ **You might tempt me to do just that.** ”

Panic flooded Papyrus' head, making it almost impossible to think or even breathe. What had happened to the flower that had praised and encouraged him for so long? Was this really him?

The vine let go of him abruptly, making him fall on his side. The flower's face was back in it's previous grumpy expression in an instant. “Now, I'll say it one more time. Go. Away.”

Papyrus stood quickly, fear still running through him. His humerus ached. It had hurt, but no real damage had been done. The flower had said cruel things, but he only acted enough to be frightening. He made threats to kill him and then decided to spare him. Papyrus looked behind himself. He hadn't told anyone where he was going or why, he made his decision to look for his friend so quickly he didn't have time to tell anyone. He could easily flee and go home right now. If Papyrus wanted to he could fight. He had enough strength, he could fight and very possibly win too.

He looked the flower over again. His eyes may have deceived him in the past but this was definitely his friend. This was the same flower that started speaking to him during his training exercises. The same one that encouraged him to finally ask Undyne if he could join the royal guard. He'd done so much for Papyrus in the past, he'd even predicted the arrival of the human.

The flower's face twisted into a scowl when Papyrus didn't make any move to leave. “Are you seriously this stupid? Just go! Or do you really still believe that I'm your _friend_?”

“OF COURSE I DO. THE GREAT PAPYRUS IS, ABOVE ALL OTHER THINGS, A COOL FRIEND. AND WHAT SORT OF FRIEND WOULD I BE IF I DIDN'T BELIEVE IN YOU?”

“You-” The flower struggled to find words to express his frustration. He looked around, like he was paranoid, before he continued talking. “Now you listen here and get it through that thick skull of yours. I am not your friend. I have never been your friend.”

“THEN WHY DID YOU ALWAYS SUPPORT ME?”

He laughed. “You mean all those 'you can do it' speeches I gave you? Yeah, I was lying through my teeth.”

Papyrus couldn't help but frown. He hated it when people lied. What was ever the point in lying? All it ever did was hurt people.

“Heh. What, does that sting? I knew that Undyne would never let you into the royal guard. You're too nice for her approval. I just wanted to see how long it was possible to string you along. I wanted to know just how long you would keep believing that she would let you join before you realized that you had no hope. Watching you keep trying and trying, watching your self-esteem drop as the months rolled by, always so stubborn even when it's obvious to everyone else that you don't have what it takes. It's fun to watch you suffer.”

He felt slightly sick listening to this but he pushed those feelings aside. “UNDYNE WAS GOING TO LET ME INTO THE ROYAL GUARD, I JUST NEEDED A BIT MORE TRAINING. AND I KNOW PEOPLE BELIEVED IN ME. MY BROTHER BELIEVES IN ME. ALL OF MY FRIENDS DO.”

“Your friends, huh? The same way I was your friend?”

“WELL, THEY'VE ALWAYS-”

The flower, seeing that Papyrus still had complete faith in everyone, gave a disgusted scoff and turned away again. “It doesn't matter anymore. The royal guard is gone now anyway and you're free to spend as much time as you want with those trash bags you call family and friends. So why don't you scurry off and do that?”

He had said so many hurtful things, but he still hadn't made any move to attack. Papyrus would admit that his feelings had been badly hurt just now, but he could tend to those wounds later. What he needed to focus on now was the puzzle in front of him. Why did the flower make threats to kill him when he didn't mean it? All that anger couldn't have come from nowhere, there had to be a reason he was so upset. Was he angry at Papyrus? Papyrus' friends? Himself? Did the reason even matter? Whatever the reason was it all came back to what was happening now. And right now this flower was in a very bad place and in need of some help.

“YOU'RE FREE TOO, WHY DON'T YOU COME WITH ME?”

“Because I'm **not your friend**.” He almost snarled the words.

“IF YOU'RE TELLING THE TRUTH ABOUT LYING TO ME BEFORE THAT JUST MEANS YOU WEREN'T MY FRIEND. I'M STILL YOUR FRIEND.”

The flower's face contorted into sheer bafflement. “Wha- no! That's not how that works!”

“AND WHY NOT? I THINK YOU NEED A FRIEND, AND I WOULD BE A TERRIBLE MASCOT FOR MONSTER KIND IF I DIDN'T EVEN TREAT FLOWERS WITH KINDNESS.”

“You **idiot.** ” He forced the words out through gritted teeth. “You can't be my friend because I was never the person you thought I was. I was deceiving you this whole time for my own amusement. **I played with your emotions and your life like they were toys.** I'm not your friend and I never will be. I will never be the person you thought I was because that person **doesn't exist!** ”

Papyrus was quiet for a long moment, thinking that over. What the flower was saying did make sense. If everything that he said to Pap while in the Underground were lies then he couldn't judge the flower in front of him now by anything he had done before.

The flower smirked, as if he'd won. “Is it finally sinking in, _pal_?”

Papyrus stretched a hand out in front of himself, toward the flower. “IN THAT CASE, IT'S A PLEASURE TO MEET YOU! I'M THE GREAT PAPYRUS, FORMER ROYAL GUARDSMAN IN TRAINING AND CURRENTLY MASCOT FOR MONSTER KIND! I DON'T BELIEVE I EVER CAUGHT YOUR NAME.”

The flower stared at the gloved hand with a mix of confusion and panic for several moments, then looked back up at Papyrus' face. “What's wrong with you?” He asked quietly.

“WHAT'S WRONG IS THAT I HAVEN'T BEFRIENDED YOU YET!” He grinned.

The flower pulled a revolted face and shouted. “What does it take with you people!?” And with apparently no more to say on that subject he pulled himself back into the ground and was gone.

Papyrus, not wanting to lose his new friend, searched the area. He thoroughly investigated the Underground and the nearby surface at least three times, but the flower was nowhere to be found. How long could he stay in the dirt? Did he need to come out for air? Pap decided to that he would look again tomorrow morning. The longer he searched the more his thoughts started to wander and remind him that he really did need to tend to those wounds soon. Preferably at home with a warm drink and some company.

Two days later Sans left their lake-house to visit Toriel and came home seven hours later with Frisk at his side. Sans seemed oddly on edge, but the human just smiled and carefully pulled something out of their backpack to show Papyrus.

“Finally. Did you really need to shove me in there? And I thought the Underground was cramped...” A bright yellow flower squirmed and stretched in his new clay pot as he at last had some room to move.

Papyrus gasped. “MY NEW FRIEND! I'VE BEEN LOOKING EVERYWHERE FOR YOU! HAVE YOU BEEN IN FRISK'S BACKPACK THIS WHOLE TIME?”

“Huh? No, I...” The flower sighed, letting his sentence drop. He looked so incredibly tired, as if he would wilt at any moment. “...My name is Flowey.”

**Author's Note:**

> Flowey is a douche but he still deserves a happy ending. I might turn this into a series in the future.


End file.
